Looking for Alaska

In this book, looking for Alaska, a young boy named Miles leaves home for the first time to go to a private school in a different state. He soon meets the Colonel, his mad genius roommate with a smoking problem. Miles also meets Alaska, a loud mouthed beautiful girl with no idea of how her life will continue, so she insists on living in the moment. As time goes on Miles, or Chubs as he is now called by his friends, begins to love his new life at the school and starts living life to the fullest. Halfway through the year Miles is struck with heartbreak when he loses his first love. For the rest of the year he will fall, and arise again and again until he can overcome the things that he must now live with and begin the next chapter of his life.
This book is one of my favorites. The characters are beautiful and seemly real. Alaska strongly relates to many of my family members, as she smokes, drinks and has made too many bad life choices to count, however she is still a happy person and knows that life is what she will make it, so why not make it perfect for her; that is very familiar to me because peoples are not all dark and evil nor light and good, the word is painted with swaths of gray. Not only are the characters colorful, but the emotions they express are ones that only a human who has struggled through puberty can understand. Angst. Pain. Heartbreak. Joy. The urge to break things. All of John Greens words in this book make me feel something; and that is the whole purpose of literature, and entertainment in general; to make you audience feel something.

"To be continued" and "Poof"
This has got to be John Greens favorite saying when writing this book. It was tirelessly used over and over and over again. I believe that every time that he wrote these words, he had the same meaning; that every time a person says goodbye we are promising that something will be continued between the two, whether it be to finish an art assignment or to continue their budding romance, the word goodbye is truly to be continued. however "Poof" is just another way things can go wrong. It is his way of saying that "To be continued" will never happen, it will just go"Poof" and life will be continued, just with a few "Poof"s in the mix.

I recommend this book to the select audience of teenagers who are interested in; angst, awkward love, stupidity and underage drinking and smoking. This book doesn't have anything specific for males or females. WARNING: this book contains lots sexual content, a an overabundance of swearing, smoking and underage drinking. If you are not comfortable with any of those elements then do not read this book.